<p>Basically, I'm a polisci major (with an international relations subfield, you could say) and since I've already completed so much of my major, I have plenty of room for random electives (yes, yes, I know, lazy liberal arts major blah blah blah - I've heard it all). Also, I'm taking three poli sci classes (the limit per semester) and have completed almost all my gen ed requirements. I'm very interested in languages (studied Spanish, spent a summer in Colombia, studied Russian, spent a summer in Russia), and this semester I'm taking advanced Russian, which will go towards my elective hours. </p>
<p>But I still have space for one more elective this semester, which brings me to my current dilemma... before yesterday, I was signed up for Intro to European Studies, a class which I've heard is interesting but light on coursework and an easy A. But last night, I randomly got the idea to register for intro Japanese, which puts me one hour short of the credit-hour limit for my university. I did this because I feel like the ability to speak any Japanese would be more marketable and more rewarding than an easy A European Studies class. Besides, my interest in languages feeds off my interest in international relations. </p>
<p>My concern is that people (i.e. scholarship committees) will see this and think I have no focus in my major and just went through college trying out random classes. I'm applying next semester for a highly competitive Semester in DC program at my university, so I'm trying to make sure my schedule looks as good as possible. The Japanese option will no doubt be more rigorous (class 5 days and 6 hours a week), but the European Studies option I guess fits better with my major, even though it'd be an elective too. So my question is just this - would Japanese or European Studies be the better option in this case? </p>
<p>Thanks in advance for your help. Sorry if this is unreadable, I have a 101 fever. </p>
<p>PS: Just in case someone cites this as a reason why I shouldn't take Japanese, I think my level of Russian is high enough that taking two language classes in one semester shouldn't be a huge problem.</p>
<p>PPS: excuse all the unnecessary parentheses and dashes.</p>
<p>I may be unrealistic, but I don’t think anyone who takes Japanese with your specific major and especially subfield is “hopping around.” From what I have heard, unless you are a native speaker, college Japanese is really hard! It might actually come in useful, too. Certainly no one would take it as a gut (unlike the European Studies class, which even sounds easy) and a scholarship committee might very well know that.</p>
<p>Could you take a quantitative analysis class? A lot of poli sci majors like the substantive classes, but it’s the quant skills that let you use what you are learning. It might give you a leg up against a lot of other applicants with the standard poli sci profile ( and a lot are heavy on languages, too, although you seem to be exceptionally strong in this area)</p>
<p>I don’t understand why European studies necessarily fits better with your major than Japanese? If your focus is international relations, you could easily make the argument that wanting to be as versed as possible in world languages is a huge plus. Whereas taking a European studies class, while I’m sure would have some appeal, unless your focus is directly on Europe, I don’t think that you have to invalidate it for that reason. </p>
<p>That being said, there might be other reasons to avoid taking Japanese. Taking two languages is very difficult, and Japanese Beginner Intensive courses are very very difficult. If you’re applying for a very competitive program, you don’t want to put yourself in a place where you GPA could suffer just because you got the whim to take Japanese. </p>
<p>Frankly, I think the best suggestion you got on here was to take a quantitative class. Grad schools for Poli Sci (MPA programs, and regular MAs) are really focusing heavily now on quantiative skills, as are many organizations in DC. If you haven’t takent satistics especially, now is the time to do so, it will give you a big leg up in the future. Also econ is a great option, particularly if you want to focus on intenrational studies (the economy these days is global, after all).</p>
<p>The problem with taking just taking a year or two of a language is that you probably won’t learn enough to be very useful. But Japanese is an interesting language and it’s very easy to travel in Japan and find yourself in situations where no one speaks any English. If you haven’t taken statistics or econ, I’d take those, but if you love languages and are good at them - it probably won’t hurt you to take it. Ask around though about how demanding it is at your school.</p>
<p>Smithie,
that is why I suggested the OP take a quant skills class. One of my sons is pursuing an MPP (master in public policy) and the program is very heavy on quant skills. It’s how you put your knowledge to use.</p>
<p>I have taken micro and macroeconomics and a class called political economy, and I’ve taken intro to statistics, but I took the latter in high school and have basically forgotten it. I would consider taking it again, but the grade’s already on my transcript, so…</p>
<p>Anyway, thank you all so much for your advice. However, I still don’t know what to do and school starts tomorrow, so as you can imagine classes are closing up and my options are very limited =/ I feel like maybe I’d just be wasting time taking Japanese, and mathmom’s point is very good - that just having a semester or two of Japanese wouldn’t get me very far… sigh…</p>